Market Trends and Condition

When it comes to home renovations, new data supports smaller being better. An article at msn.com reports that on average U.S. homeowners who made home improvements in 2011 only managed to pick up 58 cents in home equity for every dollar they spent. This is according to data released by Remodeling Magazine.

The return on remodeling investment peaked in 2005 at around 76% of cost. Of course this was in the heyday of price appreciation. It’s logical that costs and equity return would drop along with home prices. maller projects do better, with roof work and new doors returning around 76%. People are doing the things they must do more than the more discretionary projects.

November 13th 2011 Fannie Mae Bailout Again? Bonuses For Executives!

I don't know about you, but this is so irritating to see families that work hard loose their homes while Companies and now the Government sponsored Enterprises of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ask for more bailouts while still giving their executives outrageous bonuses. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are corporations that are backed by the U.S government to expand the secondary mortgage market by securitizing mortgages in the form of mortgage-backed securities. Frannie Mae now says it needs another bailout from the taxpayers, and yet they keep losing money, but are justifying obscene bonuses. What's even more surprising is that everyone seems to be quite on the matter. Read more about this at the link below.

CNNMoney interviewed real estate investors, primarily in Florida, and decided that there is a great deal of wealth being built in real estate during this housing crisis. Jeffrey Lehman, a Florida investor, now owns around 60 properties, and is buying them up as bargains are uncovered. He then rents them out to hold for future appreciation.

One deal example involved a home that sold for
$140,000 seven years ago:

- 1300 square feet
- 3 bedrooms
- foreclosed home
- current Zillow value estimate is $100,000
- property purchased for $38,000
- needs new $6000 roof and $1500 in kitchen cabinets
- will be rented out for $1000/month

For the second time ever!!

While on the surface, this appears to be great news, however, the underlying cause of this action is a screwed up world economy that forces fixed income vehicles to drop in the US as money is flowing into a safe haven.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38770102/ns/business-real_estate/

Here we go again!!

Read the whole story here:

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/10/8722051-foreclosures-re...

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/10/real_estate/foreclosures/index.htm

CNNMoney posted a Web article with that title, predicting that the housing market still has more downward room for prices before a true bottom is reached. According to Fiserv, a financial analytics company, home values are expected to fall another 3.6% by next June. This will push them to a new low of 35% below the peak in early 2006. It will also mark a triple-dip in home prices nationally.

The combined effects of sustained high unemployment and increased foreclosure activity are stated to be the primary reasons for a triple-dip. The previous two bottoms were:

- in 2009, when prices fell to 31% below the 2006 peak.
- in winter of 2010, they fell to 33% below the peak.

The situation in Europe has gotten significantly worse over the last few weeks. The problems in Greece has now infected Italy which is the world's 7th largest economy. (And by the way, Spain, Ireland and Portugal are right behind Italy in having serious problems.) There are a lot of major US banks that are involved with Italian debt and that could cause our banks to fall back into a loss position as soon as the end of November. If that happens, the housing depression will be extended another 3 years as the problems will run deeper than most people can fathom.

Hi DG family I know this might sound silly, but I am having trouble wrapping my head around market anyliss. I'm from FL is florida as a state my market or do I break it down by county or city. Looking a factors would be easyer if I knew where to look thanks all

'Aggressive pricing and an increase in short sales means fewer properties on the banks' books. Banks, owners, lenders and buyers all benefit from an increase in sales of pre-foreclosure homes.'

http://realestate.msn.com/banks-proactive-in-selling-distressed-properti...